Yusef Khan
made his first appearance 23 November 2010. He is portrayed by Ace Bhatti. Backstory Yusef married Zainab Masood in an arranged marriage in Pakistan at the age of 17. Zainab brought shame upon their respective families when she had an affair with Masood Ahmed. As punishment, Yusef set Zainab on fire, though he claimed it to be his family's doing and that he tried to save her. Masood rescued Zainab and she divorced Yusef to marry Masood, moving with him to the UK. Yusef later remarried and had a daughter, Afia Masood. Storylines 2010–2011 Yusef first appears when Afia introduces him to her boyfriend Tamwar Masood. Tamwar feels he is not good enough for Afia in Yusef's eyes as he is from a poor background, but Yusef says that does not matter and approves of Tamwar. After Tamwar mentions his mother Zainab Masood's name, Yusef visits the Masood home and finds the door open. When Zainab sees him, she screams and orders him out. It is revealed they were husband and wife from an arranged marriage when Yusef was 17, and Yusef's family had poured oil on her and set her on fire. Yusef says it was his family, not him, and he attempted to save her, revealing bad scarring on his body. Tamwar's father Masood Ahmed, Tamwar and Afia return home, and Masood attacks Yusef, punching him twice. After Yusef returns, Tamwar asks Masood to speak to Yusef, and when he visits, he finds out Tamwar and Afia are still seeing each other. He gives his blessing for them to be married. Yusef becomes the local general practitioner for Walford and takes an interest in Denise Fox. He is later pickpocketed by Janine Malloy. Denise tells Yusef that there have been rumours about him going round, Dot Branning is responsible so he goes and talks to Dot; she ignores him. Zainab tells Yusef that Afia will be welcome to the family but he will not. Yusef reminisces about the past leading to Zainab telling Masood they must stop the wedding. Yusef starts a relationship with Denise. Yusef encourages Zainab and Masood's estranged son Syed Masood to take the first step in making amends as he is gay, and Syed goes to Tamwar Masood and Afia's mangni (engagement party). The roof collapses and Syed is hospitalised and Yusef lies to Zainab that Syed could die so she visits him, but his injuries were not serious noticing that Yusef tricked her. Yusef makes out that he is sleeping with Zainab so Masood and Phil Mitchell then kidnap Yusef in an attempt to scare him away. Masood threatens to pour petrol over Yusef, though it is only water and leaves him unharmed. When Masood returns home, Yusef has cuts on his face and blames it on Masood. Everyone believes Yusef and Masood is rejected from his home. Yusef convinces Tamwar, Afia and Zainab that Masood should not be at the mehndi. At the wedding, Masood turns up to try to stop it but Tamwar reveals that he and Afia already married. Yusef's cousin Tariq (Antony Bunsee) arrives and he reveals that Yusef started the fire that burnt Zainab. After hearing news that Syed is trying to find his wife [[Amira Shah, Yusef visits her father, Qadim Shah at his office and offers to avenge his family for causing Amira pain. When Zainab and Yusef attend an event together, people assume they are married and Zainab does not correct them. Afterwards, Yusef admits to Zainab that he has great feelings for her but they should maintain some distance as she is married. Yusef continues to manipulate Zainab and ply her with pills, but she says she wishes to stop taking them, so Yusef crushes up a bottle of pills and conceals them in Zainab's food. Zainab passes out and is hospitalised, with her family believing she took a deliberate overdose, as was Yusef's plan. Concerned that he himself is causing Zainab's worries, Masood divorces Zainab by saying the triple talaq. Yusef learns that Amira gave birth to Syed's daughter Yasmin, so persuades Zainab to take a holiday with him and Kamil in Pakistan. While there, he suggests that they move there permanently as a family. On their return to Walford, Yusef learns that Amira has been seeing Syed, so tells Amira that she is not wanted by the Masood family. Amira ignores him and Zainab meets Yasmin, and informs Yusef that she cannot leave Walford after becoming a grandmother. Yusef then puts doubt into the mind of Syed's boyfriend, Christian Clarke, about Syed's paternity of Yasmin. Christian then asks Yusef to perform a secret paternity test on Yasmin, however Yusef uses his own DNA for the test, creating a false result. However, his falsification is exposed, leaving the Masood family hostile towards him, and Zainab devastated. Later, Yusef tells Zainab that he told the lies to protect her. She is sceptical, but when Yusef revives Amy Mitchell and Kamil Masood who has almost drowned, Zainab is impressed with Yusef's caring attitude, but says it does not change things. Amira goes to Yusef for help, saying she needs him on her side, threatening to tell Zainab that Yusef bought her a plane ticket if he does not help her get Syed back. She convinces Zainab to talk to Yusef, and when Yusef sees 15-year-old Ben Mitchell, who has recently come out as homosexual, running out of Christian's flat, he asks if Christian acted inappropriately. At first Ben says nothing happened but later Ben tells Yusef that Christian touched him, and they tell Ben's father, Phil. This turns out to be untrue, but leads to Christian leaving Syed and Walford. Yusef continues to manipulate Zainab, to the point of becoming violent with her. Yusef then tries to encourage Zainab to move to Pakistan, and recruits Amira to manipulate Syed with the same idea. As Zainab starts to disrespect his wishes, Yusef slaps her and apologises as he thought he was going to lose her. Yusef meets up with Tariq and offers him his daughter's restaurant. Upon discovering that the restaurant doesn't belong to Yusef, he reveals to Afia that Yusef started the fire involving Zainab. Afia then tells Yusef she knows he started the fire and threatens to tell Zainab if he does not do so first. Yusef admits to Zainab that he started the fire and kicks him out of the house, she later forgives Yusef however. Yusef and Zainab then marry. After Zainab and Jane argue in the street Zainab and Yusef return home. Zainab slaps Yusef after he says Kamil will be an outcast to him but Yusef slaps Zainab back. Yusef then hastily arranges a flight for himself, Zainab and Kamil to Pakistan, but Zainab purposefully discards her passport to prevent the trip. Yusef then kidnaps Kamil, telling Zainab that he is being kept in a safe place and refuses to let Zainab see him. After about four days of not knowing, Yusef takes Zainab to a café in the High Street, where a relative returns Kamil to Zainab. During the visit, it emerges that Yusef told Bushra's family that Zainab had a nervous breakdown, which is why he needed to have Kamil looked after. When Yusef takes a call outside the café, Zainab tries to escape with Kamil through an emergency exit in the back of the shop. However, Yusef guessed her plan and was waiting for her outside the exit. As she tried to escape, Yusef warned her that he knows everything, and if she leaves him, he will kill Tamwar and Kamil. Masood races to the restaurant and secretly promises that he'll do whatever it takes to get her out of her marriage to Yusef. Zainab finally stands up to Yusef and refuses to leave for Pakistan. Yusef attacks her and after learning that Masood has Kamil, retaliates towards Yusef. Yusef drugs Zainab, and the family return to the house. Masood punches Yusef before calling the police. Afia confronts Yusef and orders him to leave. Yusef is later found by Masood at the bed and breakfast with a match and some petrol. Yusef attacks Masood and lights a fire leaving Masood for dead. Shirley Carter and Christian put the fire out but the fire is later reignited trapping Masood, Phil and Denise inside. Yusef taunts Zainab outside. Zainab lies and tells him that Afia is in the building and he runs in followed by Tamwar. Masood is later rescued and as Yusef remains upstairs he realises that Afia is in fact outside. Realising Zainab tricked him, he briefly smiles, and the floor collapses beneath him and he succumbs to the flames, killing him. The following day, firefighters retrieve his body. He leaves everything to Zainab in his will. 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